Buenos Aires, Argentina – Juan Martin del Potro will play in Friday's opening singles rubber, as Argentina will battle the visiting Czech Republic in a best-of-five Davis Cup semifinal this weekend.
The former U.S. Open champion del Potro will face Czech veteran Radek Stepanek, and that match will be followed by a bout between Argentine Juan Monaco and big Czech slugger Tomas Berdych, the 2010 Wimbledon runner-up who was a U.S. Open semifinalist last week.
Saturday's doubles rubber will pit Argentines Carlos Berlocq and Eduardo Schwank versus a Czech tandem of Ivo Minar and Lukas Rosol, while Sunday's reverse singles currently call for the world No. 8 del Potro to lock horns with the sixth-ranked Berdych and the No. 11 Monaco to take on the 40th-ranked Stepanek on the red clay at Buenos Aires' Parque Roca.
The Argentines are captained by Martin Jaite, while the Czechs are led by Jaroslav Navratil.
The Czechs are 3-1 all-time versus the Argentines, including a win in their last meeting in a quarterfinal in Ostrava in 2009.
Argentina lost to Spain in last year's World Group final in Seville, falling to 0-4 in Davis Cup finals.
The Argentina-Czech Republic winner will meet the Spain-United States victor in the final in November.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.